Haunted
by Mikauzoran
Summary: Onmyouji!Shinichi and Hakuba and Spirit Familiar!Kaito AU. Shinichi has never believed in the supernatural, but he'll have to get over his doubts when a spirit comes to haunt him. With the help of senior Onmyouji Hakuba, Shinichi makes the phantom thief his familiar, and together they take on their common foe, the Organization.


Mikau: Hi everybody! Thanks so much for checking this out! Now, don't look at the first sentence and freak on me. As with all my other fics where Kaito "dies", I haven't killed him off. He's impossible to get rid of. This actually isn't very angsty at all, so don't worry. It's not a character death piece. It's an Onmouji and Spirit Familiar AU done for Poirot Café's 5k Contest "AU". I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be more supernatural elements. I really enjoyed that abut MK back in the day, and I'm sad to see it go. :/

…

Haunted

The Kaitou Kid had been dead seven days exactly when _It_ first appeared to Shinichi.

"Are you lost?"

Conan woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed and frantically scanning Kogoro's room for the (most likely psychotic and homicidal) intruder.

He saw nothing. The old man wasn't even back yet from the bar—I mean from 'meeting with a client'. The room was empty and still…and oddly cold.

Shinichi was just about to decide it had all been a dream and head back to sleep when the forlorn, blood-chilling voice came again.

" _I'm_ lost…. So lost."

Conan whirled around and came face to…there was no discernable face on the writhing mass of shadows that Shinichi was now staring down…or being stared down by.

"Sooo lost," it repeated mournfully, taking on a vaguely humanoid shape as it crouched by the head of Shinichi's futon. "Can you tell me where to go?"

It reached out toward Shinichi, a hand-like member taking form as the shadows still undulated.

Able to neither comprehend this hideous specter nor defend himself from its advances, Shinichi did the only natural thing.

He screamed.

Mere seconds later, the bedroom door flew open, and the goblin vanished just as Ran burst in, ready to kick the assumed kidnapper into next Tuesday.

"Conan-kun! What happened?! What's wrong?!" she demanded.

"There was—!"

What exactly? What was that thing? A bad dream? Some kind of demon? Shinichi didn't believe in demons. Not in this age of science and technology. There were no such things as ghosts and ghouls. So what had been in the room with him? How had it disappeared?

"Sorry," he recanted. "It must have been a nightmare. I thought I saw…"

No point in scaring Ran too.

He smiled sheepishly. "I thought somebody was in here, but…"

"Well…just in case." Ran did a quick check of the windows and door, but she found everything as it should be. After she'd finished, she stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, biting her lip as she surveyed her pale, shaken, and visibly agitated charge.

Conan had had nightmares before, but usually, upon waking and discerning that it had only been a dream, he was able to go back to sleep without much incident. This time the boy still seemed preoccupied, upset over the matter.

"Since Dad's not back yet, do you want to come and sleep in my room tonight?" she offered gently, reaching out a hand in a maternal fashion.

He hesitated and seemed on the point of declining when he suddenly paused, cast a paranoid glance around him, and then nodded, taking her hand. "Just for tonight."

It took a good hour or so for Shinichi to slip back into a fitful semblance of sleep. Just thinking about the creature his subconscious had conjured up gave him the chills. Maybe he needed a break. He'd seen too much lately…especially with Kid's death still weighing on his conscious.

…

The previous Friday there had been a heist at a hotel downtown. Kid escaped (a little predictably) up to the roof where Shinichi was lying in wait for him.

They exchanged their usual playful banter, and Kid handed over the jewel after checking it in the moonlight. Kid was getting ready to take off when the roof access door slammed open and the gruff voices of five or so men could be heard. Shinichi could hear the cocking of guns as the footsteps drew near, but the Taskforce didn't usually use their weapons, and these men talked more like gangsters than police.

Kid's eyes widened in terror. Shinichi could almost see the thief mentally run through various scenarios before he decided on a course of action, grabbing Conan and concealing him with his magicians' tricks behind the roof access, between the wall and the ledge so that the new arrivals wouldn't see the boy.

"Stay put," Kid hissed in Shinichi's ear. "Whatever happens, stay put. Don't move until they leave, and _don't_ follow them, whatever you do…. _Please_ , Kudo."

Shinichi thought that Kid would fly off on his own after that, draw the guys with guns away leaving Shinichi to make a run for it when they'd left, but Kid stepped out from behind the structure with his telltale smirk and faced down the thugs.

"Good evening, gentlemen," the thief greeted with a tip of his hat.

"Goodbye, Kid," the one in charge snickered. "You've become too much of a nuisance yet again. Stay dead this time."

Shinichi didn't hear a shot, but he saw the effect: Kid's body fell to the roof limp, a bullet wound in the center of his forehead. His lifeless eyes stared sightlessly at Shinichi as the blood began to pool.

And Shinichi had to force himself to stay put as Kid had begged him. He just wanted to run out there and…and…do something. Catch the killers. Make it so that Kid wouldn't be dead anymore. But he was trapped in the body of a child, and there was a gang of murderers out there that had just gunned down _the_ Kaitou Kid. Even with his super powered shoes, his tranquilizer watch, and his soccer balls…what could Edogawa Conan do?

He could sit still and stay alive, not waste this precious gift that Kid had bought him with his own life. Because Kid had sacrificed himself for Shinichi. If Kid had grabbed him and flew off with him, there was still a chance that they'd be hit…that if injured by the bullets, Kid might fall out of the sky or drop Conan, sending him to his death. And if the gunmen saw Conan…he was a pretty recognizable public figure when it came to Kid. The gunmen could track him down and dispose of him just in case Conan had seen their faces. Kid could have just left, saving himself, but he had made the decision to hide Shinichi and face down the attackers.

Shinichi owed it to the guy to sit still and not let his sacrifice be in vain.

The murders muttered amongst themselves for a minute or two about calling for a cleaner, and then they began rudimentary cleanup, picking up the bullet casing, making sure no fingerprints were left behind.

They took a minute to put on gloves and search Kid's person for the gem, but, naturally, they didn't find it. And then they were gone.

Shinichi struggled with the urge to follow them, hunt them down, and bury them in a jail cell, but Kid's final request eventually won out. Kid didn't want Shinichi involved, and it wasn't because Kid thought of him as a child that needed protecting. Kid knew about Shinichi, what kind of detective he was, a little bit about the Organization that Shinichi was messed up with. Kid had a good reason to tell Shinichi to stay out of it.

So, in spite of himself, Shinichi let them go without a fuss. He waited a little more than five minutes, a little less than ten before coming out of his hiding place. He had to pass Kid's body to escape, and he paused for a minute as he did. He bent down and closed the magician's startlingly violet eyes, removing the monocle in order to do so. He kept it for whatever reason…sentiment, probably. It had seemed sacred to Kid, and it felt wrong to let it be destroyed with the rest of the corpse.

Shinichi got his first clear look at Kid's face, and it was alarming, to say the least, to find a young man no older than Kudo Shinichi himself hiding behind the mask. Shinichi's chest ached as he gripped the monocle and turned to leave.

He'd gone home, not sure exactly what else to do. A crime had been committed. He'd normally go to the police, but…Shinichi sensed that the men who had killed Kid were a lot like Shinichi's own men in black. They weren't something the police could handle. Good officers would die if they investigated Kid's death. Better to keep quiet, let Kid simply disappear as he had once before all those years ago…probably in a similar manner to the current Kid.

Shinichi said nothing, and it wore away at him on the inside.

…

"Ao—"

Shinichi jolted awake at the eerie sound.

 _It_ was standing not three feet away, reaching out towards him. It flashed, blinking in and out like static. Its otherworldly voice skipped like an old record.

"Hel—ko—Run!—Lost—Are you?—Ao—I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Ran!" Shinichi screamed, shaking her awake.

"Conan-kun, what's wrong?!" She forced her eyes open and looked about the room for the source of the commotion.

"We've got to get out of the house!" Shinichi hissed, grabbing her hand and tugging, intending to drag her around the monster.

"What?! Why?" Once again Ran was alert, her survival instincts taking over.

Shinichi took a brief second to stare incredulously. He looked at the creature, still flickering and stuttering. "Can't you see it?" He pointed.

She looked, saw nothing, and shook her head. "Conan-kun, what is it?"

Shinichi looked back and forth between _It_ and Ran.

"Help me. I'm lost," It pleaded.

Shinichi gulped. "Nothing. I'm tired. I thought… I don't think I should watch scary movies before bedtime anymore, Ran-neechan."

"Probably not." She smiled warmly and pat him on the head before settling back in and drifting off easily.

That left Shinichi and the creature. He stared at It as It babbled and phased in and out. It didn't look like It intended to harm him, but…

"Ao—Sorr—Hel!—Are?—Ku!—Run!—Lost?—ko—"

" **You're not real** ," Shinichi muttered under his breath. " **You don't exist**."

With one last "Lost—", It disappeared.

Shinichi didn't sleep anymore that night.

…

When morning finally came, he was better able to convince himself that he'd been hallucinating due to working too hard and seeing too many dead bodies.

Kid's death had been the last straw. It was one thing to see the corpse of a stranger, another entirely to witness the death of a…worthy rival. Kid dying to protect him…it had shaken Shinichi. And the fact that he couldn't do anything to set things right again was haunting him. He wanted to avenge Kid, put those criminals down, but…he feared it would get too many innocent people killed.

Something to his left moved.

He turned to look, but there was nothing there. The Mouri Detective Agency looked much as it always did. He was sitting on the couch while the old man screamed at the TV…despite the fact that Yoko-chan couldn't hear him. Ran was over in the kitchen area making coffee. Nothing amiss.

He went back to his novel, shaking it off.

But then he caught sight of a black shape moving out of the corner of his eye.

Again he turned to look only to find…nothing.

" _You're being paranoid, Kudo."_

But it kept happening.

All week he felt like he was being watched, and there always seemed to be a dark mass just on the edge of his periphery vision. Part of him hoped his eyesight wasn't deteriorating while the other half hoped it was cataracts just so that he'd have some logical explanation.

Wednesday night when he turned to look for the nth time that week, the shadow _didn't_ disappear for once. _It_ was there in the room with him, looking more humanoid and less like a gelatinous blob of writhing black snakes.

Shinichi's heart stopped. He held his breath as the eyeless creature stared at him.

"What do you want?" he found himself asking the figment of his imagination.

After a minute or so of silence the monster replied, "I need to find it, but I'm lost."

And then It was gone, leaving Shinichi wondering if he should check himself into a mental institution…or perhaps see an exorcist. Only he didn't believe in psychiatry or in demons.

At night he heard It muttering to Itself about snakes and Greek mythology, someone named Aoko to which It owed more apologies than It could ever offer, and the usual laments about being lost. During the day It stayed just out of his line of sight, always on the edges, mumbling. It was quiet and unobtrusive, though. It didn't seem to want to hurt him, and It paid no mind to the Mouris or anyone else that came in—client, police, classmates, or otherwise.

So Shinichi rode the week out like that, trying to ignore It, trying to pretend that It wasn't really there. It would go away if he slept more, ate better, got some exercise, and stopped running into so many cases. If It didn't go away in a month…or maybe a little longer if Shinichi could deal with It that long, Shinichi would consult both an exorcist and a psychiatrist.

…

The exorcist found him first that Saturday, two weeks after the Kaitou Kid had died.

Conan witnessed a stabbing, so he had to come down to the station to give his statement. On his way out, he happened to run into an extremely haggard-looking Hakuba Saguru.

Deep bags seemed almost tattooed under his eyelids, and his normally fair skin could only be described as sallow at the moment. His appearance was unkempt…like he'd been sleeping in his clothes outdoors for a week…and not sleeping soundly at that. He was clearly dragging himself along, struggling to stay upright.

When he saw Shinichi, though, he jerked awake, alarm coloring his features.

"Conan-kun? Might I trouble you for a minute?" Hakuba tried to keep his voice calm so that his own anxiety didn't distress the elementary student.

Too late.

"Sure," Shinichi tentatively agreed, following the taller teen out of the building and down a little side street devoid of spectators.

The suspicious blonde cast glances down at Conan's feet from time to time as they walked, and as they turned down the side street, he cautiously probed, "Conan-kun, has anything strange been going on around you lately?"

Shinichi had to fight to keep from tensing up and showing his hand. "…Not particularly. Why?"

Should he tell Hakuba? Could the other detective help? Did the Brit know what was going on? Would he think Shinichi was crazy if he told him that a shadowy creature was stalking him?

Hakuba gradually came to a stop just inside the mouth of an alley. "Hold very still, please. Everything is going to be all right, and there's no reason to be alarmed."

Shinichi did as requested, but he wasn't completely sure about this. " _Why_?"

"You have two shadows—classic sign of demonic possession. Hold still, please. It'll all be over shortly."

Before Shinichi could answer with a bewildered, "W-What?!", the blonde had stomped on Shinichi's double shadow and intoned, " **Out. Release him.** "

There was an audible crackle like an electric spark, and then, to Shinichi's horror, the second shadow detached from Shinichi's and settled into the form of _It_ , more humanoid than ever.

Hakuba took Conan by the shoulder and pulled him back, placing himself between the child and the beast.

Shinichi could only stare in absolute disbelief. This couldn't be happening.

"Is this your first exorcism?" Hakuba chuckled sheepishly, feeling awkward but wanting to be supportive for the seemingly younger boy's sake. "No need to fear. It's all right. It can't hurt you while I'm here."

"What are you gonna do? Talk in a funny accent at it?" Shinichi scoffed, momentarily forgetting decorum in his shock.

Hakuba didn't look offended, though. In fact, he seemed more amused than anything. "Yes, actually," he snickered. "Words have power…if you know how to use them. You've heard of the ancient practice of kotodama, yes? Using words as spells to bend the wills of others to one's own? Onmyouji have been using it to control our familiars and vengeful spirits alike for generations."

Shinichi blinked, accepting this as a dream and beginning to take it all in. "'Our familiars'? _You're_ an onmyouji?"

"In training," Hakuba modified. "On my father's side. My mother's side does more of the traditional Western exorcism than anything, but…"

"And that's a demon?" Shinichi pointed to _It_ …which was waiting patiently for the two detectives to finish their conversation.

"No, actually. I was wrong," Hakuba confessed. " _That_ is a very powerful earth-bound spirit. It's the soul of a human being that can't find its way to the other side."

Shinichi's eyes widened. "It did say that it was lost."

Saguru looked a bit taken aback. "It's talked to you? You could understand it?"

Shinichi nodded. "Is that unusual?"

"Yes, actually," the Brit returned. "You must have very heightened spiritual awareness."

"Oh…" Shinichi replied noncommittally as he inspected the spirit.

Hakuba hummed in thought as he studied the ghost. "…The poor thing's all mixed up. It doesn't even remember what it looks like."

"What can we do for it?" Shinichi inquired, suddenly feeling a great deal more sympathetic towards the creature that had been plaguing him all week now that he knew it had been human once.

Hakuba shrugged. "Help it sort out who it is and what it needs to do before it can move on."

"How do we do that?"

"Talk to it in a funny accent," Hakuba returned flippantly before turning his attention towards the spirit. " **Speak**. Who are you?"

"I'm lost." The shadows seemed to shimmer and pulse, taking on the shape of a head and shoulders, arms and a torso.

"I know," Hakuba sighed, voice fully of pity. "What do you want? What can I do for you?"

"I need to find it," the ghost responded.

"Find what?" Hakuba encouraged.

"Pandora. But there are too many to check," It whispered, the appendages fading back into a black mass.

"Sometimes he says stuff like that," Shinichi interjected. "Does that mean anything to you? Can we help him?"

Hakuba chewed at the side of his cheek, wrapped up in thought. "Not particularly, but… We _will_ help him." He once again addressed the spirit, "Why are you following this boy? Why haunt him?"

It remained silent.

" **Speak** ," Saguru commanded once more. "Why are you doing this?"

That seemed to strike a chord with the spirit. Once again it started to look solid. Arms and legs took form…a mouth…and it said: "Isn't it your job to figure that out?"

And then it was back to being a glob of shadowy chaos.

But those words had struck Hakuba like a hatchet in the back.

"Oh, God," he gasped softly.

The blonde's face lost all color as he stared down Conan, barely getting his words out in a desperate whisper, "You were at the last heist, yes? …What…happened to Kid?"

Shinichi's whole body felt like it had been shoved into an industrial freezer. He struggled to part his lips and force them to form words.

"Did Kid get away?" Saguru continued. "Is he…? I've been searching for him these past two weeks, and… Not a trace, so…?"

Shinichi shook his head. "He…they killed him…because he chose to protect me." Shinichi snuck a glance at _It_. "That's not… He's not… Is he?"

Hakuba gulped and then took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he announced, "Yes. I believe it is." He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder: " **Spirit** , **I name thee** : **The Kaitou Kid**! … **Kuroba Kaito**!"

There was another snap-crackle in the air, and the shadows all melted away to reveal a form familiar and yet not. It was Kid…at least half of it was. It was split down the middle—half Kid, half high school student in a black gakuran.

Kid slowly opened his eyes and looked around in a daze. "Who's there?" he called tentatively.

"Hakuba Saguru," the detective announced.

"Your _real_ name," the spirit scoffed.

Shinichi frowned, looking up in confusion at the other sleuth.

Saguru grimaced. "Sean Griffin, if we're going by my English name."

Kid seemed to accept this, for then he smiled and replied, "What are you going to do with me now that you've named me?"

Hakuba shrugged.

Shinichi hung on every word with rapt interest.

"Well, I intend to help you cross over. You do know that you're not of this world anymore…don't you, Kuroba?" There was a sad tone saturating Hakuba's voice, signaling that he had known Kid…Kuroba Kaito…well…that they had been friends.

"Oh," Kid whispered. Clearly it hadn't sunk in yet. "I'm dead?"

"Yes," Saguru replied gently. "You're dead, Kuroba, but you have some unfinished business."

"Oh," Kid repeated again, trying to sort it all out. "…I'm… 'Kuroba Kaito'? And…I'm dead."

"How is he supposed to take care of his unfinished business if he can't even remember who he is?" Shinichi frowned, worried for Kid's sake.

"He can't," Saguru sighed. "He'll just wonder about and get eaten by a more powerful spirit."

"Can't you do something?!" the shrunken sleuth exclaimed. He'd be damned before he'd let the guy who'd saved his life become demon chow. "Isn't there some way to protect him?!"

"He can become a familiar," Hakuba informed. "Once he enters the service of an Onmyouji, he'll be safe and free to regain his memories, fulfill his business."

"But…he'll be a slave, won't he?" Shinichi didn't like the sound of that either.

Saguru raised an eyebrow at the boy. "A partner. Not a slave. Just how poorly do you believe I treat my familiars? I assure you that Watson is properly cared for. She's _very_ happy in my service."

Conan's mouth dropped. "Your bird is a ghost?"

" _Hawk_. And she's a spirit, a kami," Saguru corrected. "She was never a human being. Humans are only one type of spirit that can attach themselves to Onmyouji."

The exorcist turned back to the ghost of their mutual acquaintance. "Kuroba, it's completely your choice, but I just want you to understand the consequences of continuing along on your own. I can help you if you'll become my familiar. What do you want to do?"

Conan pursed his lips, wishing there were another way. He didn't want Kid to become Hakuba's servan—partner…whatever. He didn't want some other more powerful spirit to gobble Kid up either, but…

"If it's all the same, I'd rather go with him." Kid pointed at Conan.

Both detectives blinked incredulously.

"B-But he's not…" Saguru struggled to accept the fact that he'd just been rejected, passed over for an eight year-old. "Normal human beings cannot have familiars."

"He's not a normal human being," Kid informed the blonde. "He can see me and talk to me, and he even used that kotodama stuff on me once without even meaning to. He can make a contract with me or whatever, and then you can teach him how to be a proper Onmyouji, can't you? I mean, you're good enough to teach someone else, aren't you?" Kid easily manipulated his former rival.

"Of course I am." Saguru's pride fell for it, and he replied with a snort. "Of course I'm good enough to teach him to control his natural abilities."

"Awesome. Then how do I become his familiar?" Kid inquired with a Cheshire Cat grin.

Saguru looked at Conan, eyes blatantly inquiring if it were okay if he saddled the poor boy with this loony nutjob.

Shinichi nodded in assent. This would be his chance to atone.

Hakuba shrugged in a "Suit yourself" fashion. "Well, he'll need an item that you have some affinity for to serve as a bond between the two of you, since he's a complete novice. It would be best if it were a personal item of yours, so we'll have to run by your home, Kuroba…provided your mother isn't there." Saguru groaned at the thought of telling Chikage that her son was dead.

"No need. He already has something of mine," Kuroba announced.

"I do?" Shinichi had no knowledge of this.

Kid pointed to his right eye. "That monocle that you carry around in your pocket. It's mine, isn't it?"

Shinichi had completely forgotten! He did have the monocle with him…to remind him of what Kid had done, what he'd given Shinichi…. It was also useful to punish himself, remind himself how he had failed to help Kid, how he'd been a liability. Well, he'd help Kid now. He'd redeem himself.

"Is that so?" Hakuba cast his fellow detective a curious expression.

Conan nodded.

"Then we can use it to link you two together," Hakuba sighed, sounding every bit as tired as he looked. "You have it with you?"

Shinichi pulled it out.

Saguru sighed again. "Good. Hold it in your right hand and do as I say, repeating the incantation after me."

"I'm ready," Shinichi confirmed.

"First you'll need to state your name, saying, 'I, your name here, call thee, spirit.' Then you'll say his name. And since we're using the monocle to tether you two to one another, you'll hold it up and say, 'With this talisman, I bind thee. Lend me thy strength.' And then if you're strong enough, he'll become your familiar. If you're not…" Hakuba grimaced. "Well, they typically turn up their noses at you and tell you to bugger off. You think you've got all that?"

"Yeah," Shinichi affirmed, slowly blowing out a breath.

"Hn." Saguru's eyes widened in surprise. "Fast learner."

"I always was." Conan smirked, but then a thought occurred to him. "But…what happens if you use a pseudonym?"

"It won't work," Saguru replied promptly even as he wondered why the young detective was asking. "That's why I always have to use both of my names when forming a pact. Pacts are quite a serious matter as they bind two beings together closer than any mortal marriage ever could. In taking him as your familiar, you're tying your existence to his. Trying to use a pseudonym would automatically invalidate the contract, and he would be no better off than before…. Why do you ask, Conan-kun?"

Shinichi inwardly groaned. He didn't want Hakuba asking questions and getting involved with the Black Organization, but…it looked like there was no helping it.

"Because Edogawa Conan isn't my real name," Shinichi sighed. "Can I start now?"

He barely waited for Hakuba's nod before he intoned, " **I** , **Kudo Shinichi** , **call thee** , **spirit**. **Kuroba Kaito** , **The Kaitou Kid**." He held up the monocle. " **With this talisman** , **I bind thee**. **Lend me thy strength**."

The wind picked up, and in a flash of light the Kid/Kaito spirit was gone, and in his place sat a black and white bicolor cat with mask-and-mantle markings quite befitting of the phantom thief. He looked at the detective duo as if smiling in amusement. His tail flicked back and forth lazily.

Shinichi quickly decided that Kid made a perfect feline: smug and superior to a fault. Haibara was going to fawn over him, and Ayumi would undoubtedly love stroking his coat while Genta played with his tail, remarking that it reminded him of an eel.

"Well," the senior Onmyouji hummed. "That went very well, very smoothly, Co—Kudo-kun."

Shinichi tensed. "Please. There's a reason I'm going by 'Conan' nowadays…. So what do we do now?"

"Go home. Eat dinner. Sleep. I'll text you tonight about meeting for basic training sometime this week, but…other than that…"

Conan gave Hakuba a wary look. "You have my phone number?"

The blonde shrugged as he avoided eye contact. "I thought it might come in handy at a heist or if I ran into a tough case and wanted your assistance, so I asked at the station some time ago."

"Oh." Shinichi easily accepted this fact. He turned to the kaitou cat. "Do you talk in cat form? If so, do you eat or are you all…ghost-y?"

"He's solid now that he's a familiar. They don't need to eat, but—"

"—Don't tell him that," Kid's voice hissed. "Ignore him. I eat chocolate. I need at least three pounds of it a day."

"You can't remember who you are and yet you remember that you have an insatiable sweet tooth," Saguru grumbled, shaking his head. "Well. I'll leave you two to get properly acquainted. I'll be in touch."

"Thank you, Hakuba," Shinichi called after the Englishman as the blonde turned and left.

And that left the boy and his cat.

Conan chewed absentmindedly on his lip. "I really hope Ran lets me keep you."

Kid seemed to shrug as he started making his way back towards the Mouri Detective Agency. "Don't worry. I'm good with women. She'll keep me. What's more, she'll convince the old man to keep me."

They walked along in silence for a bit until Kid offhandedly remarked, "You're taking this rather well. You seemed so determined to deny my very existence before."

"Well…I've always been strictly against anything supernatural, but…today when I learned it was _you_ …I really wanted it all to be true. I wanted a chance to make things up to you…to repay you."

"For what?" Kaito inquired, honestly in the dark. "I don't really remember when I was alive, so…"

"I'm the reason you're dead," Shinichi admitted just barely above a whisper. "You died saving my life."

The cat looked up at him and seemed to think about it for a minute before he replied, "I don't think I was the type of guy to begrudge something like that. Help me out and we'll call it even?"

"Sure, but…" Shinichi bit his lip. "Why did you even pick me anyway? Hakuba has a lot more experience than I do. I really am a complete novice at supernatural stuff. You should have become _his_ familiar."

"But you're a better detective," Kid replied immediately. "And…I don't know. I just…have this feeling that you're the only one that can help me find Pandora and get those Organization slobs."

Shinichi's ears perked up. "Or…ganization?"

Kid nodded. It looked funny seeing a cat nod. "Yeah. The Organization. Baddies in black trench-coats."

Shinichi's mouth dropped.

It was at that moment that he realized he'd found the perfect partner. Kid's mission was his mission, and together they would make sure that the Men in Black would have hell to pay.

The

End

…

Mikau: Yes, I know it feels like the first chapter to a longer fic, but it's not, I assure you. That's the end. Unfortunately, due to the 5k word limit for the contests, that's all I've got. I'm sure they go on to take down the Org and become a fantastic crime fighting team. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again for reading!


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